Before the Armor
by Reckless Avarice
Summary: "It is of the nobility of man's soul that he is insatiable: for he hath a benefactor so prone to give, that he delighteth in us for asking. Do not your inclinations tell you that the WORLD is yours? Do you not covet all? Do you not long to have it; to enjoy it; to overcome it? To what end do men gather riches, but to multiply more?" One-shot; I don't own FMA:B.


_It is of the nobility of man's soul that he is insatiable: for he hath a benefactor so prone to give, that he delighteth in us for asking. Do not your inclinations tell you that the WORLD is yours? Do you not covet all? Do you not long to have it; to enjoy it; to overcome it? To what end do men gather riches, but to multiply more? _

**Thomas Traherne**

* * *

The year is 1715. Deep in the depths of the ruins of the once-prosperous city of Xerxes, someone is born; someone with great ambitions and other-worldly desires, someone with a tattoo on his hand, marking him as different from others. He kneels down, grateful for his birth and his eternal existence. Words, phrases, of thanks and praise are leaving his lips as he thanks his Father, his Creator, for blessing him with life. Violet eyes connect with dull, lifeless ones of a man that sports the spitting image of Van Hohenheim, but is all but a Dwarf in the Flask.

The homunculus, that is the deprived avarice of the Dwarf, smiles feelings of eternal devotion to his Creator evident in his violet eyes.

The avaricious one stands on his newly created legs – two legs that he loves oh so much – and glances at his siblings, his brother and sister, for he is the third homunculus to be created. The lascivious one smirks knowingly, seeing the unhidden devotion in his eyes while the young boy, looking as if he hasn't hit adolescence yet, stared at the man as if he was below him. The third-oldest homunculus furrows his eyebrows together. Since when did a child look down on an adult? Confusion still evident in the way his expression sets, the avarice shook it off before thanking his Father once again.

Father silences him with one hand held up.

* * *

The prideful one refused to be near his brother for his first mission, which was to interrogate a man in the small city of Central. With no one else to help, the lustrous one was assigned to Greed to assist him.

After instructing him to focus only on the mission, the two emerge from the underground home that the homunculi have settled after leaving Xerxes. The breeze brushes against the avaricious one's cheek, the birds sing. The whole world is alive and he wants it all. He wants to see, to hear, to witness, to feel all there is to offer. The sensations he feel are overwhelming, and he can't seem to grasp rationality in all of this. Everything was too perfect, too beautiful… And he wanted that perfection for his own. Though he was already the perfect being Father created him to be, he wanted more, as one would guess for someone that is nothing but greed and greed alone.

Lust tells him to pay attention, and she tells him not to bare any thought to the low lives that are the birds and the insects and the trees. For they are above them. They are perfect. Why waste any thought to creatures worth spitting at?

He responds, "Alright, Sister," but he knows that one day - one day in this eternal life of his - he will own the birds and the insects and the trees and everything on this Earth. For he was the perfect embodiment of greed, and he wants everything.

* * *

Nearly one hundred years later, after helping his Father, his Creator, with everything he can offer, thoughts start to cloud his head. He realizes that his desires are suppressed with Father's control. He can't have what he desires with his Father in the way.

The emptiness of the hole inside him burns with desire – anything to quench his avarice. He had to have everything, and everything was his. But he had to have it in his hand - in his reach - before he can comfortably relax and his loneliness is all but a memory.

He runs in the night, the shadows clouding his presence, away from his former home, the wind in his hair and the moon shining. He runs and he runs and he doesn't go back. Because he knows that if he does, he can't leave and he would be lonely. His siblings can only do so much. (During the time of his devotion to Father; Envy the Jealous, Sloth the Indolent, and Gluttony the Voracious were born; but they were of no use to keep him entertained.)

He pauses, catching his breath, looking over his shoulders and surveying the area to make sure his siblings didn't take a liking to following him. He's alone, he realizes with relief and despair. Alone in this world he still doesn't understand. Alone and unknowing. The teachings of his Father can only do so much: he's heard of sunsets but he hasn't witnessed one, he's heard of marriage but he hasn't witnessed one, he's heard of alchemy but he hasn't witnessed it.

He keeps running, not looking back at what his life was and looking forward to what his life will be.

* * *

He arrived in the still-developing city of Dublith, Amestris, after traveling from east to west. Hiding himself in a deserted building (_Go back to Father,_ he thought. _You won't survive-** Yes, I will**_), he planned on where he was off to next. According to one conversation he eavesdropped on, there was a city named Rush Valley not too far from here that he could head to next. With this thought in mind, he rested for the night, ready to leave at dawn.

That morning, as he heard the cock crow, he blinked a few times to get out of the trance he was in before stretching, ready to leave and be rid of this place. Nothing of true value held him here. All the buildings were just shacks, and no jewels caught his attention. So, why stay? He shrugged on a leather jacket he found (technically, he stole it from the nearest second-hand shop, but he wouldn't admit that), he left the building, only to stutter to a halt as two military officials strolled by, engrossed in a heated conversation passed in hushed tones.

"The chimeras are fabulous!" the one with the mustache told his comrade excitedly. "Absolutely stunning—and they look human!"

_Chimera: an astounding monster, impossible; the junction of two different drugs, cells, proteins, or organisms_, Greed thought, the teachings of his Father entering his head and sparking his interest.

"One," the man in the mustache continued, "Subject 158, can stretch to unbelievable feets and is remarkably flexible. We're trying to get her to go beyond the limits she set, but she isn't complying. Stubborn one."

"What about the others?" the other one, the one with the green eyes, pressed, interest now seeping into the tone of his once-unimpressed voice.

"Another – Subject 201 – can climb walls and can evacuate easily; we have to keep a special eye on him, considering his size."

"Are you sure they're real?" the green-eyed man asked.

"Laboratory Five," the man with the mustache answered with near-crazed confidence. "Tonight, a new feet in science shall be known, Sergeant. Tonight. Remember that." A wicked grin slowly crept onto the man's face.

Fascinated and intrigued, the homunculus slid out of sight, deciding that maybe he should stay in Dublith for a few more days. In his eyes, things were about to get very interesting.

Later that night, managing to get a map of Central and all the locations to buildings authorized for military personnel only from a very willing female officer, he spread it out against a pile of crates used as a basic coffee table (though it wasn't appealing to the eye, it sure as Hell worked well). Drinking in all the routes from Dublith to Laboratory Five, the avarice familiarized himself by tracing each route with the pad of his pointer finger; memorizing, remembering, seeing, analyzing the city's development from how he saw it last, over seventy-five years ago.

After he was sure he knew modern Central like he knew the fall of Xerxes, it didn't help with the Xerxian souls inside his Philosopher's Stone crying out to him, he set out, thoughts and assumptions and hopes filling his head and his covetous heart burning, fingers twitching to steal, to take these chimeras from Laboratory Five.

Following the shortest path he knew by heart, he managed to hijack a car for the ride, cutting his time down by half – driving was something he was informed about, but never done, and his curiosity took over. Also, with the recent invention of the automobile, the locks weren't exactly Homunculus-proof. So, it was easy to get into the stranded car that probably belonged to someone else. Finders keepers, he thought with a chuckle.

Slamming against the ignition, the burning desire burned in his chest where the heart of man would be._ People that weren't humans—tests—chimeras—people—abnormal—**Possessions**._

_Maybe this damnable avarice will be quenched_, he thought with enthusiasm. His foot pressed harder against the ignition until he floored it, the speed rattling the car nosily until the gas was gone from the tank, causing Greed to run, run, run across the deserted countryside.

But he didn't care. Homunculi don't care.

Whatever to quench this greed of his.

* * *

Slowing to a stop near the destination, Laboratory Five, he glanced around for unnecessary eyes, knowing that if the answer was yes, there was unnecessary eyes, then he would just have to get rid of them, now won't he?

His Ultimate Shield (carbon covering his immortal skin, able to reach any designated hardness) sluggishly covered his right hand, revealing claw-lick nails far too inhumane for any mortal to see without shrieking in terror, and Greed began to pick-lock the copper lock until it let out a satisfied click. Another lock that wasn't Homunculus-proof. Letting out a sigh of satisfaction, he tore the lock from the door, kicking it open and running into the Lab.

Sirens went off, as per usual for a secured military-affiliated environment like this, and the avarice didn't care. The burning in his chest kept growing, drowning him whole. He knows that if he doesn't find them, these chimeras, these creatures that are two combined to become one, that he wouldn't be able to leave the labyrinth of despair that he's confused and lost and crying out in. Without them, without the possibility of those chimeras somewhere in this lab being able to saturate his desire he is the embodiment of, that he wouldn't be able to control what humanity he has left.

He follows his instincts, leading him down a dark hallway, the smell of hate and science and trying to outride God's domain filling his senses. Here, he thinks, here is where they are. He glances in each of the cages, trying to find these supposed human-appearing beings. And passing seven bodies reeking of death and having bodies lying on the musky floor lifeless, he finds them.

One sports a tattoo along her neck _(She must be the flexible one_, he thinks) and in the cage across from her, another has an abnormal muscular frame and seems to be the mature one out of all four of them. She asks who the Hell he was and he tells her that he's the way out of this Hellhole. After hearing this one simple answer, she's already obliging to whatever he says. He slices the lock clean from the door, them running out and asking where to go. He tells them to follow him, and they say there are more of the human-based chimeras, the beings that they are. The avarice sets them free also, and they run, run, run. Nothing but that. They keep running, out of the laboratory, out of Central, out into the countryside before they stop to catch their breath.

The female is named Martel, he learns, and the bulky-framed one is Roa. Another is Dolcetto, and the one that can evacuate any situation easily is Bido. Another is named Doc, and another is Vulch. He introduces himself as Greed, and as usual, they comment on his odd name. He simply tells them to blame "ol' Pops" and that he didn't choose the name. He decides that it's time to go, and they continue their venture back to Dublith, where Greed is stationed now.

He tells them who he is, what being he is, and tells them the hopes he has for the future, hoping that they'd stay after what he did. They agree, they agree wholeheartedly, and they promise to help him in exchange for a place to stay, a home to live in. He agrees and decides to have it here, in the building that was deserted when he first set foot in Dublith. And then, a home is built. A home disguised as a bar, like the monsters disguised as humans that live inside. But something bothers Greed after all this.

The burning in his chest is still drowning him and is still there, even with the chimeras in his hands.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Dude. I haven't uploaded anything on this site in forever. I've been posting it on my Tumblr, but whatever.

Anyways, here's a one-shot on what Greed did before episode 13 in Brotherhood. I was bored, and I was inspired by _Born of Ashes_ by Laora (which is also on this site).

Later! (Probably gonna change my user name on here after I upload this).


End file.
